Baking gets on the road in emerging markets

Novozymes’ new “baking roadshows” bring the company’s solutions up close to customers in growth markets that are hungry for bread, cakes, cookies and everything in between.

​The Middle East, Africa, Latin America, China, and India are home to a booming middle-class with more spending power and precious little time. Consumers here are driving demand for longer-lasting packaged bread and other baked goods. But these are places where most bakers do not use enzymes. Novozymes uses baking roadshows to bring expert knowledge about enzyme technology to bakers in these growth markets.

Over the course of two days, the company demonstrates how its enzymes work in different types of baked goods. Novozymes presents its products and services in baking, learns about customers’ needs, and shares information on market trends and consumer preferences. Lab sessions let customers truly get their fingers in the dough, and see the impact of Novozymes’ enzymes in various baked goods.

"The baking course and seminar provided knowledge and ideas for my business and solutions for existing problems,” said Rahul S. Aggarwal, the Managing Director of Coast Millers of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who participated in Novozymes’ regional roadshow in Johannesburg.

Many tastes, tailored solutions

Baking is a global industry with distinct differences between the mature markets of Europe and North America and emerging economies. What’s more, consumers in growth markets have a wide variety of preferences: steam breads, muffins and croissants in China; cakes and biscuits in India; baguettes in Vietnam; and white sandwich bread in South Africa.

“Sometimes it takes five to six years to develop a new enzyme; but by then the market has changed. By adopting a near-market approach we can help to address specific trends quickly and effectively,” says Khadija Schwach-Abdellaoui, Senior Business Developer.

In fact, Novozymes’ roadshows serve as listening posts for market developments and customers’ wishes. In China, for instance, where over eight million tons of baked goods were sold in 2014, customers want to learn about enzymatic solutions that keep baked goods fresher for longer. Food safety and fewer chemicals are also high on their list of priorities.

In South Africa customers are most interested in flour milling and how to work with different grades of flour and improve them with enzymes. “Here you have to reach out to more people than you would in Europe, where there are a few, big players. But once you’ve made that investment, it’s easier to show the benefits of our enzymes,” says Silvia Strachan, Lab Manager Baking.